Corona Brings Paper Diamond and Brazzabelle to Brickell for a Free Show

Paper Diamond is not one to talk about the past. "You can find most things about me if you do some research online," The electronic music producer told New Times. Instead he was more interested in discussing his present and future. "I've been on the road three years straight, but since May I've only been doing a couple shows a month giving myself time to lock myself in the recording studio." One of those rare shows will take place in Miami on November 1 for Corona's Electric Beach Dia De Los Muertos party, a free show at Brickell's Fifty Ultra Lounge featuring fellow DJ Brazzabelle.

"Being on the road always got me in a hurry mindset. This is the first time in my career I'm not rushing. My days and nights can now be spent developing what the forefront of my music is."

Some internet research does in fact show Paper Diamond's history. He was born in Kansas City as Alexander Botwin. He moved around a lot, residing for years in Colorado and is now based in Los Angeles. His musical training stemmed from his mother and grandmother who both played piano. "They signed me up for violin lessons when I was four," Botwin says. "At 12 I played guitar, then bass, drums, and piano."

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After college he joined the band Pnuma Trio, who got themselves signed to a Japanese label. Botwin described his old act as "a band who integrated electronic music into a live atmosphere."

It is under his current alias, Paper Diamond, that he has been able to create electronic music in front of thousands of people, whether at Madison Square Garden, Coachella, Bonnaroo, or his personal favorite venue, Colorado's Red Rocks.

But even though he tries to keep lives shows to a minimum these days, he is excited to bring his act to Miami. "I've only played there a few times, but it's going to be an awesome afternoon party. I'll go with the vibe of the crowd and see what people are feeling. I'm planning to play my new music."

He was hesitant to give too many details about the full length he plans to drop early in 2016. It will be his first new release since the 2014 EP Rain Drops. "I'm toying with a couple names for it, but there's a lot of moving pieces of music and art we're crafting before I can decide."

The new album was influenced by the changes in his life. "Moving from Colorado to LA has been an inspiration. I'm always surrounding myself with other creative people, watching a lot of movies, art, and photography, so that can become an immersive thing. The main influence though is for once I've been willing to take some time and cultivate my ideas."

David Rolland is a freelance music writer for New Times Broward-Palm Beach and Miami New Times. His mornings are spent educating his toddler daughter on becoming a music snob. His spare time is spent dabbling in writing fiction and screenplays whose subjects are mostly music snobs.